Hell Energy Drink (stylized as HELL) is a popular energy drink brand distributed primarily in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

. The brand was initiated in 2006 by a privately owned company, founded in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, 2004, which took the name "Hell Energy Magyarország Kft." in 2009. Within three years it became the market leader in

. A major milestone for the brand's popularity was a two-year sponsorship deal with the AT&T Williams Formula 1 Team, where Hell Energy became second in the energy drink sector to enter the world of Formula 1 Racing. Hell Energy is now also a market leader in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

and

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

and is available in more than 50 countries worldwide. Hell produces the energy drink ''Speedstar'' for NORMA supermarkets. Hell Energy has headquarters in Hungary,

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

and also in

. Hell Energy is the builder and owner of Avalon Park, a resort, spa and event center complex in Miskolctapolca, a resort belonging to

Miskolc Miskolc ( , , ; Czech language, Czech and sk, Miškovec; german: Mischkolz; yi, script=Latn, Mishkoltz; ro, Mișcolț) is a city in northeastern Hungary, known for its heavy industry. With a population of 161,265 (1 Jan 2014) Miskolc is the ...

. Avalon won several awards including gold medals in three categories at the World Luxury Hotel Awards. It received the internationally recognized 5-star classification at the International Hotel Awards.

Factory

The Hell Energy factory was built in 2011 in Szikszó, Hungary. It has two can filling lines with production capacity of 2 million cans per day. There is a laboratory for the constant monitoring of the drinks' parameters. The factory has the highest food safety certificate - FSSC22000 - available in Europe. In 2012 the factory was officially voted as one of the best three factories in Europe in the 'Global and World Class Manufacturing' category at the Strategic Manufacturing Award in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The plant is accompanied with a fully automatized logistic center with an area of 6000 square meters. The Hell Energy filling factory is able to manufacture 250, 330, 475, and 500 ml cans. Hell Energy has been producing for the domestic and export market since 2011 in the Szikszó bottling factory. The can filling line has an annual capacity of 600 million cans, thus it can accept assignments and outsource requests from other brands.

Ingredients

The

caffeine Caffeine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant of the methylxanthine class. It is mainly used recreationally as a cognitive enhancer, increasing alertness and attentional performance. Caffeine acts by blocking binding of adenosine to ...

content of a single can of Hell Energy is 80 mg/250 mL (32 mg/100 mL). This is about the same as one cup of

espresso Espresso (, ) is a coffee-brewing method of Italian origin, in which a small amount of nearly boiling water (about ) is forced under of pressure through finely-ground coffee beans. Espresso can be made with a wide variety of coffee beans a ...

coffee.

Marketing

In 2018, Hell Energy signed

Bruce Willis Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and appeared in over a hundred films, gaining recognition as an action hero a ...

as their brand ambassador.

Controversy

In 2020, both a Romanian newspaper

Evenimentul Zilei ''Evenimentul Zilei'' is a formerly physical and now exclusively online newspaper in Romania. Its name means "today's even (news)". History and profile ''Evenimentul Zilei'' was founded by Ion Cristoiu, Cornel Nistorescu and Mihai Cârciog, and ...

as well as a Hungarian newspaper ''

Magyar Narancs ''Magyar Narancs'' (''Hungarian Orange'' in English) is a weekly liberal magazine with a strong satirical tone appearing on Thursdays in Hungary. It is informally referred to as Mancs (''Paw'' in English) which is a joking abbreviation of the nam ...

'' confirmed that Ernő Barabás is the owner of the Hell Energy Drink. Ernő on 20 March 1990, during the

ethnic clashes of Târgu Mureș The ethnic clashes of Târgu Mureș (also called ''Black March'', hu, Fekete Március) refer to violent incidents against the Hungarian ethnic group in Târgu Mureș and surrounding settlements in Transylvania, Romania in March 1990. The clash ...

took part in the beating of Mihăilă Cofariu, an ethnic Romanian from Ibănești. He was convicted by the Romanian court, but emigrated to Hungary to escape his 10-year imprisonment sentence. As business owners, the Barabás family was included in ''

Napi Gazdaság ''Napi Gazdaság'' (Hungarian language, Hungarian: ''Daily Economy'') was a Budapest-based daily newspaper published from 1991 to 2015. The daily focused on financial and business news. It was succeeded by ''Magyar Idők'', a conservative politic ...

'' (Daily Economy)'s Top 100 list as early as 2013, their fortune estimated at 6.9 billion was enough for the 86th place. Forbes estimated this year at HUF 48.5 billion. Ernő Barabás' fortune, making him the 26th richest Hungarian. In 15 years, the family built a global brand in Szikszó, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county. The owners of Hell Energy Kft. are now the founder's two sons, Ernő Barabás Jr. and Zsolt Barabás. There is very little publicly available information about the family, even though it represents a significant economic force and is one of the largest employers in

.The Barabás family likes to start lawsuits against the press that writes about them: they sued ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

,'' because the business magazine mentioned the Barabáses in its list of the richest Hungarians, and their business was presented in a later issue. In addition, the Barabás companies have also received heavy state support in recent years: since 2008, the amount that has gone to companies connected to the Barabás in the form of non-refundable state and EU subsidies and subsidized loans could reach HUF 46.2 billion.

Footnotes

External links

{{Energy drinks Soft drinks Energy drinks Hungarian brands Food and drink companies of Hungary